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How to watch Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever on Bally Sports during Comcast Xfinity outage

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8 months ago

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How to watch Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever on Bally Sports during Comcast Xfinity outage

Caitlin Clark’s highly anticipated preseason WNBA debut is set for Friday as the Indiana Fever travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Wings.

However, it will be a little harder than normal for Xfinity customers to watch the No. 1 overall pick and women’s basketball phenom go up against the likes of Arike Ogunbowale, Natasha Howard, Jacy Sheldon and Maddy Siegrist.

Comcast Xfinity has dropped all Bally Sports regional networks. It was unable to come to an agreement with Diamond Sports — who operates all Bally Sports networks — on a new carrier agreement before Wednesday. As a result, Comcast Xfinity customers won’t be able to find Bally Sports Indiana on their guide.

MORE: Watch Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever games with Bally Sports during Xfinity outage with Fubo (free trial)

Here’s what you need to know on how to watch Clark debuts in the WNBA vs. the Wings:

Comcast Xfinity-Bally Sports outage, explained

Bally Sports Indiana, along with all the other Bally Sports regional networks, was removed from Xfinity on Wednesday as Comcast and Diamond Sports Group were unable to reach an agreement for Xfinity to continue carrying the networks.

As reported by ESPN, Diamond Sports Group and Comcast originally agreed to a six-month extension to their previous deal from the fall — which also was around the time DSG and the NBA agreed to a one-year deal for the 2023-24 season — but were not able to agree to a new multi-year contract by late Tuesday night’s deadline.

“It’s disappointing that Comcast rejected a proposed extension that would have kept our channels on the air and that Comcast indicated that it intends to pull the signals, preventing fans from watching their favorite local teams,” Diamond Sports Group said in a statement. “Comcast has refused to engage in substantive discussions despite Diamond offering terms similar to those reached with much larger distributors of ours.

“We are a fans-first company and will continue to seek an agreement with Comcast to restore broadcasts, and at this critical juncture for Diamond, we hope that Comcast will recognize the important and mutually beneficial role Diamond and RSNs play in the media ecosystem.

“In the meantime, fans in Comcast regions can access our networks through subscriptions to Fubo, DirecTV or DirecTV STREAM or through our direct-to-consumer offering, Bally Sports+ for the teams for which Diamond retains DTC rights.”

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How to watch Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever basketball without Xfinity

While customers won’t be able to watch Clark’s WNBA preseason debut on Bally Sports Indiana due to the Bally Sports blackout, they can still stream it on the Bally Sports+ app. They can also stream it on Fubo, which carries Bally Sports and offers a free trail to select users.

Out-of-market customers — meaning those who don’t live in Indianapolis or the surrounding area — can stream the game with the WNBA League Pass, which is offering a free preview for users. Per the WNBA’s blackout restriction rules — which consist of all nationally televised games and all games on Prime Video for one’s local WNBA team — the Fever vs. Wings game won’t be able to streamed on WNBA League Pass for users in Indiana on Friday.

How to download Bally Sports app

Bally Sports+ can be accessed multiple ways. All customers need to do is create an account and subscribe to the streaming platform. One can stream it on BallySports.com, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Samsung TV’s and mobile/tablet devices (iOS and Android).

Click here to view instructions on how to download BallySports+.

Bally Sports bankruptcy update

The first domino of the Bally Sports bankruptcy that hit was when Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in March 2023. This forced the hands of MLB to take over the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks’ broadcasts, as Diamond Sports Group was unable to pay for its rights to these teams. It also created several blackouts among the other 12 MLB markets that had broadcasting rights with Bally Sports regional networks.

As recently as Wednesday, Diamond Sports Group came to an agreement with both Charter and DirecTV — two of the other big carriers it works with — to continue carrying the Bally Sports regional networks. As noted by ESPN, Xfinity and Diamond Sports not being able to come to an agreement before their deadline this week may jeopardize Bally Sports’ restructuring June confirmation hearing in bankruptcy court.

The restructure plan for Diamond Sports Group includes a $100 million investment from Amazon to become the primary streaming partner for the company.

Indiana Fever schedule: TV, times, dates

Here are Clark’s first five games, including the preseason, with the Fever.

  • Friday, May 3 (preseason): Fever at Dallas Wings | 8 p.m. ET | Bally Sports app | Fubo (free trial)
  • Thursday, May 9 (preseason): Fever vs. Atlanta Dream | 7 p.m. ET
  • Tuesday, May 14: Fever at Connecticut Sun | 7:30 p.m ET | ESPN2, TSN | Fubo (free trial)
  • Thursday, May 16: Fever vs. New York Liberty | 7 p.m. ET | Amazon Prime Vide, WTHR Channel 13, WWOR-My9
  • Saturday, May 18: Fever at New York Liberty | 1 p.m. ET | ABC | Fubo (free trial)

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